Cheslor Cuthbert, Martin Maldonado and Jorge Soler homered and the Kansas City Royals powered past the visiting Detroit Tigers 8-5 on Friday.

Soler had two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs. Center fielder Bubba Starling, called up from Triple-A Toledo, went 0-for-3 with a walk and run scored in his major league debut for Kansas City. Nicky Lopez added three hits.

Jake Newberry (1-0) tossed an inning of scoreless relief to get the victory. Ian Kennedy got the last three outs for his 12th save.

Victor Reyes had three hits, two runs scored and an RBI for the Tigers.

Detroit took the lead two batters into the game. Reyes led off with a single and Nicholas Castellanos brought him home with a double.

Kansas City got that run back in the bottom of the inning as Whit Merrifield walked, Adalberto Mondesi singled him to third, and Alex Gordon brought him in on a sacrifice fly. Starling walked in his first career plate appearance in the second inning and scored on a throwing error to make it 2-1 Royals.

Reyes led off the third with an infield single that struck the hand of Royals starter Danny Duffy. After a walk, Miguel Cabrera knocked in Reyes with a single. A Brandon Dixon double scored Castellanos to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead and ended Duffy's night. Reliever Jorge Lopez then got Jeimer Candelario to ground to first, but an error by Cuthbert allowed Cabrera to score and Candelario to reach base.

The Royals once again had a quick answer with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Soler knocked in the first of those runs with a two-out double before Cuthbert drilled a homer over the left field fence to give his club a 5-4 advantage.

A double by Christin Stewart and another from Reyes in the sixth tied the game at 5-5.

Maldonado's homer to left off Blaine Hardy (1-1) put the Royals back on top in the seventh. Merrifield followed with a double, a steal of third and a run on a wild pitch to make it 7-5.

Soler went deep leading off the eighth, his 24th long ball this season.

--Field Level Media